Betraying Emotion
by Snozzle
Summary: Snape never shows his feelings and Tonks has had enough. AU. NTSS


**Disclaimer: **Standard disclaimers apply (cheers Loz).

**Claimer: **I own this idea.

**A/N: **Thanks Lauren for checking those few lines for In-Character Snape. I tried to be as in character as possible, but I'm not promising anything. PS: Reviews make me happy.

**Idea: **Wrote this whilst bored, and because I wanted to add another story to my Tonks/Snape site... which is www . colourful-bat . cjb . net without the spaces. Next chapter for Of Dark and Light should be tomorrow or Thursday.

-- -- -- --

He often sauntered in with an angry expression, a frustrated sigh, and a glare, which grew when he saw the woman sitting on his sofa. And then she would walk towards him, the palms of her hands on the sides of his face and crush her lips upon his, and feel him relax.

But he never let go of his defences and that was what frustrated her most.

As they lay in bed one night, her snuggling up to his form, him reluctant to make any effort to stay close to her, she finally whispered the words that made him jump away from her and pull a robe around himself in alarm. "I love you Severus."

He growled slightly, before storming away, picking up layers of black robe on the way, slamming the door.

And she always felt that emotion was key to any relationship.

And he always felt that emotion was for the weak.

Nymphadora Tonks wasn't the sort of woman to give up when she came across a challenge. Severus would never admit any feelings for her, nor admit she had feelings for him. Tonks knew he was fragile.

-- -- -- --

_Tonks placed her hands on her hips in annoyance. "Severus, seriously, you've got to realise that people are here to help. You're bleeding, and I have the potion for you, and you won't let me cure the wound. I mean, you made this especially for The Order and yet, when the time comes for it to be used, you refuse!" _

"_Just give me the tub Nymphadora."_

"_Tonks."_

"_Miss. Tonks." Tonks raised her eyebrows. "Tonks." Tonks smiled brightly at him, and then handed him the tub containing the potion. He made an angry sound in the back of his throat, as he picked it up off of the floor. Tonks smiled sheepishly, before kneeling it down and handing it to him._

"_Se saying my name wasn't so hard was it?" If it was one thing Severus Snape hated, it was being patronized. Especially by those younger than himself. He gently lifted the potion to his wound, erasing the dried blood and any future of a scar._

"_Miss. Tonks, it is past midnight, I did not expect you up at this hour. Surely, there is something much more useful to do other than being a royal pain." Tonks merely shrugged his comments away, and pulled a seat over to where he was, sitting down opposite him. She giggled softly, before raising a hand to eradicate a little potion still visible on his cheek._

_Severus turned away from her contact immediately. "What?" she asked curiously. Snape glared at her, before standing up. _

"_Goodnight Miss. Tonks." She followed suit, and followed him to the door. _

"_Severus!" He turned around to face her, though he so obviously detested the idea of having to continue talking to her, if you could talk it talking. Conversing, maybe. Speaking. "Severus, why did you come here?" she asked curiously._

"_Because the potion was here. Unfortunately." Tonks formed an 'oh' with her mouth and then smiled, ignoring the insult at the end. _

"_Well, it's a good job we had some left then really." She remained staring at him for a few moments, before leaning forward slightly, and placing a speedy, nervous kiss upon his lips. His eyes widened as she moved away from him. She giggled softly, predominantly through nervousness, as he continued to stare at her._

_He moved toward her, his lips coming into contact with hers for a second time. Her arms snaked around his neck, drawing him closer to her._

-- -- -- --

And then, for weeks afterwards, there had been no physical contact. In fact, it took two months until he allowed Tonks to kiss him again. She had been willing to give him the time and space he had needed, though she never quite understood why he was no unwilling to indulge himself in any kind of relationship.

Until the night they had sat in his chambers at Hogwarts during the Christmas Break talking for hours and he had finally opened up to her about his hatred from Sirius. Why he had always had strong feelings of hatred towards James Potter and Remus Lupin.

And finally, Tonks understood. A combination of bullying in school, the bonding of the Dark Mark upon his arm and curses thrown upon him by You-Know-Who had caused Snape to hate divulging himself in physical contact with people. Divulging himself in emotion.

-- -- -- --

"Severus I am sick of this!" The sudden force in Tonks' voice caused the Potions Professor to look up from his book in surprise, and yet he betrayed nothing in his face. "You sit here day after day, you kiss me, you let me share your bed and yet you just give nothing away!"

"I know you have this bad past, yammer, yammer, but you've got to get past all this. We've been together for over a year now, and you can't just get over emotion. You're scared of me, but most of all, you're just scared of yourself. You're scared of getting hurt, but guess what Severus, I'm not gonna hurt you!"

"I'm not afraid of..." But she cut him off.

"Yes you are. I tried to tell you I loved you the other week and you practically ran ten thousand miles to escape me. You even stooped as far as to sleep on the sofa! You've really got to sort yourself out her Professor, because if you want me to stick around, you're going to have to start trying a bit harder."

And with that, she walked towards him, moved her face towards his, and kissed him. "Now, you tell me this Severus, would you lead me on for so long if you felt nothing for me?" He said nothing, continued watching her as she moved away, started pacing.

"You just keep up the act of not caring Severus, because no one will notice when you're upset, when you're hurt. If you remember, I did notice that night, and that's why we're together. But, since that day, you realised someone had seen through you, so you've made it even harder for me."

"Is this what you want? To challenge me? Well, you're doing a brilliant job!" She grabbed a book from off of the bedside cabinet, and went to throw it, but paused. "And now you've got me mad, and... I don't want to be mad at you."

Severus swallowed, the first sign of feeling. He stood up, placing his own book back onto the chair. Tonks made no effort to walk towards him, deciding that this time, it would be down to him to initiate something. A relationship was a two-way thing, and Tonks hated being the one to hold the Quaffle all of the time.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Severus walked towards her and captured her lips upon his. They broke apart quickly. Tonks' challenging gaze wasn't yet over, and she continued staring deep into his cold, penetrating black eyes.

"I-I-I love you." Tonks had never heard him stutter, never heard him struggle with words, but hearing him do so made her realise what a difficulty it had been for him to say anything of the sort to her.

Tonks smiled. "See, now," she began. "You're never going to have to say it again... at least not for a few months." And with that, she began kissing him, and pushed him onto the bed.

"I love you Severus." And this time, he made no effort to move away.


End file.
